2D Flag Investigations

Flags are packed with amazing real-life maths. The patterns and colours, the symbols and, of course, the shapes. The vast majority of flags in the world are rectangular. You can investigate the ratio of the shortest to the longest side. Some are in a 1:2 proportion, like the Australian and British flags, or a 2:3 proportion, like the French, Italian or Spanish flags. Qatar holds the record for the largest flag in area, covering 101 978 square metres. It was created for their National Day in December 2013. It had a mass of 9.8 tonnes too. Afterwards, it was recycled into 200 000 satchels for school children. The longest flag in the world was created in Syria on 10 July 2011. It was 16 km long. And in Bangladesh, 27 117 volunteers holding up red and green blocks created the largest human flag on 16 December 2013. Then of course there is the only non-quadrilateral flag in the world, the Nepalese flag. It’s a pentagon.